Stray
by One Lucky Unicorn
Summary: Based on the "Lab Animal" segment from the TV special Garfield's Nine Lives and picks up where the cartoon left off. Now that Specimen 19-GB is free, what will he do now? Where will he go?


**Stray**

A Garfield fanfiction by One Lucky Unicorn

**Author's notes: **Okay, I'm sure that a lot of people have looked at the story summary and are like, "What does this even have to do with _Garfield_?" Well, Stray is based on an animated segment called "Lab Animal" from a _Garfield_ television special that aired back in 1988 called _Garfield's Nine Lives_. If you have not actually seen the special, then I won't spoil it for you; you'll just have to read the story (since I will eventually rehash the events of what happened in the segment in the story). If you want to see it, "Lab Animal" is available for viewing on YouTube. Stray picks up several days after the events shown in the cartoon.

**Chapter One**

**Deana**

Two turkey buzzards, a gray squirrel, and a mourning dove. Deana Walters smiled to herself in satisfaction as she scrolled back through the images of the wildlife that she had captured on her digital camera. While it was the young woman's job to take photographs for her local newspaper, the Green Lake Picayune, what she really liked doing was taking pictures of things found in nature – animals, plants, natural phenomena, things of that sort. The woods near her home were perfect for such a hobby.

The aroma of fresh air and pine needles being crushed under her sneakers and the sweet serenade of a bird invigorated Deana as she walked down the dirt trail beneath the tall trees. Yep, she'd definitely take this over being stuck inside some cramped dull office that alternated between being stuffy and freezing cold any day of the week. In the heat of the bright summer morning, her light green T-shirt and blue denim jeans suited her just fine. There were no truly dangerous wild predators in this area of the country and hadn't been for well over a century. Green Lake was a low-crime area too, so she didn't really fear being attacked by anyone either. All the same though, Deana still didn't see a point in taking any needless risks. She carried with her a hard, stout walking stick that was nearly as tall she was, a gift from a cousin, and a small canister of mace just in case she ever had to defend herself.

There was a small creek around here where animals liked to come to drink, so Deana decided to head down that way. Maybe she'd get lucky and see a deer there or something. Deer were some of her favorite animals, with their liquid brown eyes and graceful features. As she strolled up a small rocky hill, the creek finally came into view, going some ways before stretching around a bend and disappearing from sight. Sometime ago, a small wooden bridge had been constructed across the gently flowing body of shallow water for hikers and the like to use.

Deana did a double-take - there _was_ something down there. Her brown eyes caught a blur of movement – something large and reddish-brown suddenly zipped off into the undergrowth so fast that she couldn't see it clearly and had no idea what it had been. Automatically she raised the camera and snapped a shot off as the creature fled. Everything had happened so quickly that she wasn't even sure if she'd gotten anything.

The brush still gently shuddered from the animal's speedy and silent departure. Whatever it was, it hadn't been a deer – it didn't seem to have been that big, but it had been much bigger then a raccoon or some other animal like that. Or at least that had been Deana's impression anyways. For a moment she thought about going over for a closer look at the spot where the animal had been, but hesitated, wondering if it was still close by. If it was aggressive, then the dense growth gave it the perfect hiding place. Deana had no intentions of tangling with an angry wild animal.

Holding her camera up, Deana twisted the scroll button to go back and look at the photo she'd just taken. In the viewfinder, she could see what obviously were the deep reddish-brown-colored hind legs of some animal frozen in mid-leap as their owner bounded away. The rest of the animal's body was hidden by the brush it was running into. It had a tail, but it wasn't bushy like a fox or coyote's tail typically was. The coloration seemed wrong for a coyote. Maybe it was just a dog of some kind? Whatever it was, Deana found herself intrigued.


End file.
